ROLEX MONTE-CARLO MASTERS

April 14, 2023

Holger Rune

Press Conference

H. RUNE/D. Medvedev

6-3, 6-4

THE MODERATOR: Questions in English.

Q. Less than three hours of tennis since the beginning of the tournament to reach the semifinal. It's a perfect week?

HOLGER RUNE: Yeah, yeah. I mean, of course I played two good matches, but, you know, only two matches to reach the semi, I should say it's not a lot. But in the end, it's good for me, good for my body, for everything.

It's not like I have been pushed in three sets for three matches. It was possible this way. You know, I'll take it. I played some good tennis and hope to continue like that.

Q. Are you happy with everything in your game today?

HOLGER RUNE: Very happy. I played well. I thought I was sticking to the game plan from the start to the finish. I lost focus maybe only one game in the second set and he was on me in this game.

So I knew I had to come back straightaway, and I did that and I was very happy on how I could manage to keep the emotions and keep my game on point.

Q. What have you done after the match? Because I see that you are eating now so you didn't have the time to eat anything until now? I'd like to know it. And also, what can you tell us about Sinner, who is going to be your opponent? Someone says that between all wins, between you and Sinner would be the favorite since in the lower part Fritz has never been considered a clay court player, and also the other, even if of course they are good players, they could win.

HOLGER RUNE: I had a snack after the match. I'm having another snack now to finish my recovery. Didn't have dinner yet, but, you know, it's important that you fill up the tank for tomorrow, because I'm going to have to use energy as well tomorrow as I did today.

Yeah, to look forward to tomorrow, it's going to be a great match. Sinner has been playing very, very good the last couple of months, like Medvedev, as well. Sinner is probably feeling more comfortable on clay than Medvedev did. But again, winning is winning. When you win you feel confident. Medvedev did, and Sinner is definitely also feeling comfortable.

But yeah, I mean, I've got to play my best tennis again, got to look forward to the occasion tomorrow to play Sinner in the semifinal. Two young players, it's great, so I'm excited for it.

Q. I was wondering what is your coaching situation right now? Because we can see Patrick is here and Lars is not here. Just to know how it works.

HOLGER RUNE: Obviously normally it was supposed to be three months with Patrick and then we extend it to six months. But again, I'm still a part of the Mouratoglou Academy, so he's helping me. Lars is also still part of my team, so all good.

Q. You said already about Sinner is strong, he's playing well and so on, but what do you know of him more and what do you consider the best of him? What would you like to steal to him if you could steal anything to him? What do you think he should steal from you?

HOLGER RUNE: I think tomorrow is going to be a lot about court position. Whoever can take the baseline is probably going to be the one who has more chance. Because I would probably consider Sinner is a big hitter, and, you know, if he gets the time to hit the ball, he's very dangerous. So I'm going to try and not let him do that, of course.

That's obviously going to be, you know, taking control of the points if I have the chance. Again, it's an exciting match. You know, it's nice to see that we are young and we are going deep into these kind of tournaments. It's going to be exciting.